Category: Food & Recipes

It has been a busy weekend of seeing friends, having family over for lunch and giving the house a thorough clean (yes the family coming over did instigate a kick up the butt on this front!!). I decided to be prepped and take some Slimming World friendly food when we went to visit friends as it was a gaming night, so they were providing food and I wanted some diet friendly options!

So I cooked some pasta with reduced fat pesto, roasted vegetables and chicken to take along, however as I made loads I now have plenty left for the week to have for lunch – so that makes me feel better prepped for the week ahead.

Pasta, roasted veg, pesto and chicken!

I was also even more prepared and made another Slimming World recipe that was in the October recipe booklet, the spicy breaded chicken. I figured that they would be a good thing to have as snack to go with lunches, they offer the savoury kick that I like, and are also lower in syns than crisps!

They were pretty simple to make, just putting together the spicy dip/rub and then rolling in the breadcrumbs and baking at 200 Celsius for 30 minutes. The other half, who is a proper chicken person liked them, so he can nibble in the week too and it’s good to know he likes them if I want to make them again. I was pleased with how they turned out, they weren’t as crispy as I was expecting but I guess you can only get that with deep frying – and that would not be Slimming World friendly!

So I’m feeling like it has been a good weekend and it is nice knowing that my lunches are more sorted for the week ahead, my other half C also made some very nice chickpea fritters along with a minty yoghurt dip that was from the Slimming World recipe book so they will be good snacks too!

Overall feeling more positive going forward this week so hopefully this will reflect in a loss.

I am struggling a little at the moment, really trying to make good choices with food but I do think I am comfort eating with it a little. I just felt so rubbish when I was ill, and it is so nice to be able to eat again but I do need to get on top of my cravings and be better behaved.

I don’t think I am going to do well at this weeks weigh in at all, definitely not within target range, but that is OK. Hopefully it will give me the kick up the butt I need to be more on plan and to make those better choices I need to make. I’ve tried to have a good kick start this morning and had a syn free breakfast of beef pastrami and eggs, which was very nice and I just need to keep that going now.

I am planning to be better prepped this week as well with lunches and dinners to be more on plan, and better at counting the syns and avoiding those little ones that crop up when you don’t realise. Planning to get back into exercise (gently mind you) as well as I miss it and need to start before I just don’t get on it!

So I am going with this week as a new beginning, and starting it as being Week 1 of my Slimming World journey as a target member.

I am not surprised I have put on 5lbs, which is annoying but with being ill I think I’m absorbing food a bit and with the UC (Ulcerative Colitis) I am still trying to figure out what I can and can’t eat as some sites say not too much fibre which obviously means the slightly unhealthier bread options and also can be limiting with not having a lot of veg to fill me up as speed food, and eating it raw as snacks as it is harder to digest. So I have got a learning curve ahead, but I am hoping thee healthier I get and the more into remission that I can reintroduce more fibre and eat more like I used too, perhaps finding ways to eat veg and fruit that won’t irritate.

I also need to shake off bad habits where I have been eating what I like recently rather than thinking about what I am eating and making naughty choices. I’ve been looking over my Slimming World recipe books for inspiration on good lunches and dinners, and I am slowly trying to incorporate some of these changes and hopefully begin stabilising as I don’t want to just keep putting weight back on at all. I’ve been having risottos with soft veg like peas, as well as making the Slimming World fish pie. Just have to do more of these things.

Mushroom Risotto, Salmon & PeasSlimming World Fish Pie

It probably doesn’t help that I haven’t been exercising at all like I was, from 3/4 times a week to nothing. But I am still weak and I know I have to pace myself to get my stamina and strength back, so my plan is to do so more walking around where we live and look into swimming at my local gym as that is a good way to use lots of muscles. Hopefully this will help and I can build back up to my old routines.

I’ll see what happens next week, but I just don’t know at the moment. It’s kind of a week at a time for me. Wish me luck!

I adore avocado’s and this toast looks absolutely yummy and I will definitely be giving it a try after seeing it on Cooking with a Wallflower’s feed. Read the recipe below!

Avocado toast topped with sliced tomatoes, basil, and fresh mozzarella then drizzled with olive oil. This caprese avocado toast is refreshing and delicious, perfect for spring. Avocado obsessed. Which is nothing new, considering that I almost always have avocado in the house. You know, just in case I need it. Maybe as a topping, or…

It got hard towards the end but I survived! I went a whole 6 LONG weeks without Caffeine and didn’t kill anyone.

In the last week of Lent I had a load of stuff on at work with two events in one week, some very early mornings and some late evenings and all I wanted was a cup of tea! Not even necessarily for the caffeine fix, I think I just missed the comfort factor. But that final week was a hard week to not let my tiredness, grumpiness and general crankiness out on people. But I was very good and did not do this.

Now it’s been a couple of weeks post no caffeine and it actually took me a few days to even want a cup of tea which was weird, I think I got so used to not having anything that when I was able too my little conditioned mind couldn’t comprehend it.

But I have been having tea again, however, I am making a conscious effort not to have too much caffeine whether, tea, coffee or fizzy drinks. I am trying to watch my intake and have other soft drinks or water instead as I think it did help me sleep better not being on the caffeine as I was able to fall asleep a lot easier so perhaps I need to do a tea cut off point? Scary thought!

But the key point I took was that I have proved for myself that I can go without tea, that I am not necessarily totally dependent…but, frankly a tea isn’t the worst thing I could be doing to myself and I am still going to enjoy a cup…. in moderation – rather than administering via IV….perhaps that may be the key!

I do also hope that all other Lent giver uppers were successful in their endeavours!

I love lentil salads, they are both healthy and delicious. Lentils are particularly rich in fiber, lean protein and iron. This fresh salad makes use of canned lentils, a cupboard staple. I use lentil though out the year, as a base for salads in the summer and for hearty stews in the winter. Lentils have a mild taste and they take on a delicious flavour in this salad when combined with tomatoes, cucumber, olives and loads of fresh herbs. This salad is perfect as a take- along lunch or light dinner.

I love eggplant. The only recipe with eggplant that I really liked when I was a little one was eggplant dip. Fresh on the bread is like heaven on earth. This recipe here, I discovered only this year, but I started to love it. Something different from the eggplant dip, but with great texture.

Ingredients:

2 medium eggplants

6 tablespoons olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

juice of 1 medium lemon

6 large garlic cloves, minced

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise. Using a sharp knife cut slashes into the flesh. Don’t cut all the way through. Put the halves onto a baking sheet.

Peel all the garlic cloves. Crush the garlic and mix it with 2 spoons of olive oil and the lemon juice till you have a sauce.